What is translucent crumb?
I have just got done reading the extended discussion on this list of Gérard Rubaud flour mix, miches, etc. and saw several references to a translucent crumb. I was somewhat mystified by this phraseology, as nothing could be more solid (if holey) than bread. However, I just made a sourdough with a mature white wheat starter and bread flour. Since I have been working on baguettes with a cold retard, I used that technique on the sourdough and let it sit in the refrigerator for 20 hours after some stretching and folding on the wet dough. Then preshaped and shaped as two small boules. Lo and behold when I cut into it, it had an almost translucent quality. But maybe it's just the power of suggestion after reading all those posts, since I'm not entirely sure what the phrase is intended to mean. I was going to take a picture of my sourdough for this post, but when I went to do it, the last bit of it had mysteriously disappeared. So what is meant by translucent crumb, and is it a good thing, or just a thing? Thanks!
Varda